Bad Girl Ventures could land in Covington

Exterior of 114 W. Pike Street, Covington, which will be renovated into apartments with commercial space on the first floor.
(Photo:
The Enquirer/Patrick Reddy
)

COVINGTON – The city will consider subsidizing Bad Girl Ventures, a business incubator focused on women entrepreneurs, so it can occupy a spot downtown in Covington’s innovation corridor.

Covington City Commission will decide Tuesday whether to help Bad Girl Ventures Inc., the nonprofit based in Cincinnati, pay for a lease in the soon-to-be-developed Pike Star building at 114 W. Pike St.

“This is a great opportunity for the community,” said Naashom Marx, Covington business development manager. “They work for specifically female entrepreneurs to get them financing. They are creating jobs.”

If the commission approves an agreement, the city will lease space from Pike Star for five years at $1,700 per month, and Bad Girl Ventures, in turn, will pay the city $733 per month and run and operate its business accelerator there.

The executive director of Bad Girl Ventures could not be reached Monday; however, Marx said the organization, which has offices in Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland, wants its headquarters in Covington.

The accelerator provided $510,000 in loans to women entrepreneurs in just over four years and has had six loans repaid in full so far, Marx said, which in turn provides money to sustain other businesses. She said 80 percent of the businesses that started with Bad Girl Ventures as early as in 2010 are still in business.

“They’ve had really good success rates,” Marx said.

The city’s part of the deal would be a total annual incentive of $11,604 from Covington Economic Development Program funds.

The agreement commissioners will see at their meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Covington City Hall says the combination of Bad Girl Ventures and UpTech accelerator would provide a larger impact on the community creating jobs.

Marx said the organization started looking for a location in Northern Kentucky in the fall of 2013, and in February submitted a proposal to the city of Covington that asked for help in identifying a good location.

In July, the Tanino’s Cafe building at 114 W. Pike St. was sold to developer Tony Kreutzjans and Orleans Development after commissioners declared the city-owned property as surplus.

The building, which is commonly called Tanino's for its last tenant, will become part of Orleans' neighboring Pike Star project, which combines first-floor commercial spaces with up-market apartments on the upper floors.

As part of the project, Kreutzjans’ firm started converting the properties at 108-112 W. Pike St. last year. UpTech moved into the first-floor space soon after. As the apartments above UpTech near completion, the developer now has plans for the new addition.

City Commissioner Chuck Eilerman said Bad Girl Ventures has a “symbiotic relationship” with UpTech business accelerator, which is adjacent to the location that Bad Girls would occupy.

“It’s a very cutting-edge entrepreneurial organization,” Eilerman said. “It would bring a lot of new energy into the city.”■